Remote Control: How Enphase is helping utilities stay on top of the grid

Partnering with Utility Companies

The power grid has always been a tricky thing: utility companies have to juggle their enormous power plants, their network of power distribution facilities, and do it all while staying on top of all regulations.

Since solar really arrived on the scene, it's of course been a huge benefit to energy production, sustainability, and people's pocketbooks — but utility companies have struggled to stay on top of all the different power generation facilities, because each home with solar power is a generation facility. Couple all those facilities with a dark, cloudy day, and it gets really hard to monitor and manage the entire grid as effectively and efficiently as possible.

That's why Enphase built smart monitoring devices and software that's always up to date with the latest regulatory changes and performance challenges, while also meeting utility company requirements. We work with your local utility company to set up these processes, and keep in constant contact with them, so that even when they face a new challenge or performance issue, you'll continue to enjoy reliable service.

Remote Updates

With this equipment and process in place, Enphase can make remote modifications to our microinverters when a local utility company contacts us and requests optimization. And because we're constantly monitoring the devices, we're able to identify areas to improve performance — like making firmware updates to ensure your microinverters are performing just right.

Whether we're responding to a utility company's request or to our own internal monitoring, all updates are pushed to the software system remotely — no sending out a squad of technicians, no problem.

Prepared for the Future

You might ask: why does this matter to me? At Enphase, we know your solar system is a long-term investment. And we know the utility grid will keep on changing. It'll look different and function differently. We're here to make sure your investment can navigate those changes and operate the right way now and in the future. Remote updates are just one of those things we're doing — whether you notice it or not.

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The AC module, ACM or AC solar panel is the optimization of solar on the rooftop. The concept of AC modules originates back with NASA in the 1980s; the patents for the technology were acquired by Sanyo, a subsidiary of Panasonic in the 1990s and acquired yet again by Enphase in 2014. The AC module...